Thursday, September 21, 2006

Wilkerson Vote Drags On

The powers at state and city level have fast tracked the Wilkerson/Chang-Diaz recount. In a real Boston duh moment -- clumsiness not fraud -- it seems 8 of 73 precincts' votes didn't even get counted.

The dailies, broadcast and blogs carry this update. Probably the best coverage is at the Boston Globe.According to the Herald, the count of missing precincts is to occur at 2 p.m. at Boston City Hall today under order of Superior Court Justice Mitchell J. Sikora. Teams of two -- likely closely monitored -- will tally ballots from Ward 4 Precinct 9, Ward 10 Precinct 9, Ward 12 Precincts 1 and 2, and Ward 19 Precincts 3, 8 and 9,; and Ward 19, the report reads.

Everyone's real sorry, can't understand how it happened, and at least feigns outrage. The newly challenged Secretary of State Bill Galvin hopped right in to show that he can imitate John Bonifaz in trying to remedy voting issues.

The short of it is that Dianne Wilkerson has a lead of 141 votes out of a little over 2,500. She figures that the recount is delaying her victory, but that it will come.

On the other hand, this is hand counting, which will now be done very carefully. The totals will change as well as the additions. Math says that Wilkerson's lead should hold, but Sonia Chang-Diaz can return to her election-night attitude of cautious optimism.